Still think about the old lady who gave me her moving boxes for free

Back when I moved out of my first apartment in Portland, I was scraping by on a part time job and couldn't afford proper moving supplies. I posted on a local buy nothing group asking if anyone had spare boxes, and this older woman named Carol replied saying she had a whole pile in her garage. When I showed up to grab them, she spent like 20 minutes showing me which ones were the strongest for heavy stuff and which ones were better for kitchen items. She even threw in a roll of tape and a marker and said "next time you move, pay it forward to someone else." That stuck with me way more than I expected, and now every time I move I try to give away my own boxes to someone just starting out. Has anyone else had a random stranger help them out like that during a move?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_ward3d ago

That 'pay it forward to someone else' part really hit me too. It's such a small thing but it changes how you look at moving from just a stressful chore into this little community thing. I had a similar deal with an old dude at my last apartment complex who gave me his dolly and said 'just pass it along when you're done.' Ended up giving it to a college kid down the hall like 8 months later. It's cool how one random act of kindness can just keep going if you let it.

margaret5513d ago

Oh great, so now I have to be nice to people during moves too? Carol basically guilt-tripped me into being a decent human being with her tape and marker donation. Next time I move I'm going to leave a half-eaten bag of chips in the box just to keep things real, you know, balance out the universe.